1.27.2011

Misguided Angel by Melissa De La Cruz

After inheriting the dark Van Alen Legacy,Schuyler fled to Florence with her forbidden love, Jack. Now the two of themmust embark on the mission Schuyler was destined to complete: to find andprotect the five remaining gates that guard the earth from Lucifer, lord of theSilver Bloods.

Back in New York, Mimi has been elected Regent of acrumbling coven. Struggling with her heartache over the loss of Kingsley andwith her overwhelming desire to destroy Jack, she must focus all of her energyon a perilous new threat. Vampires are being abducted and their captors areplanning to burn them alive online…for all the world to see. Help arrives in theform of Deming Chen, a Venator from Shanghai, who must untangle the web ofdeceptions before the killers strike again.

As the young vampiresstruggle for the survival of the coven, they uncover a deadly secret, a truthfirst discovered by Schuyler’s mother during the Renaissance but kept buried forcenturies. And as the Blue Blood enclave weakens yet further, fate leadsSchuyler to a terrible choice that will ultimately map the destiny of herheart.

VAN ALEN LEGACY left me breathless, with it's romance, angst, suspense, and drama. I had high expectations for MISGUIDED ANGEL, and sadly, it fell a bit flat. Since Misguided Angel is in three parts (Sky, Mimi, and Deming), i'll give you my review in three parts instead of the usual!

SKY:

Loved it, as usual. Sky and Jack are so romantic and sweet together, how can I not love them? Their short adventure in Florence before you dive into Mimi was suspenseful, dramatic, and the writing downright lyrical. Though some of the things Jack says are a tad cliche, I think that's his appeal. I mean, he is pretty old (if you know what I mean.)

MIMI:

In the beginning, I never liked Mimi. I thought she was swallow and contrite, but then I got to VAN ALEN LEGACY, and she turned into a kinder, deeper character. When Melissa pulls you back from Italy and takes you to New York, I found a new love for Mimi. She was tortured inside because of her separation with Jack, but she still maintained the control and put her entire effort into helping her vampires and taking care of business as Regent. I loved her and Oliver working together, and I like how Melissa didn't try to pair them up, and they stayed friends. Mimi needed friends, not romance, so that fit perfectly.

DEMING:

Now, this is where MISGUIDED ANGEL fell flat. Deming was a great character really, but I just didn't feel she was as well-rounded as I was hoping for. And then the super sudden romance with Paul? I mean, they had one conversation and she was strangely smitten. And the conversation was a few lines long! The surprise of who was killing was no surprise to me, though to be honest, the why was!

In the end, my main problem was Deming's part of the story, and just the fact that I expected too much after VAN ALEN LEGACY.